Not everything in life is free; but, there is plenty of great software that is. Here are excellent replacements for all your essential paid programs
Audio editor
Audio editor, Audacity
Audacity is a powerful audio editing software that can record multiple tracks of audio and supports batch processing. You can add sound effects, edit audio tracks and even import music into the programme. The editor works with upto 32-bit audio without using too many resources. You can run the programme on almost any computer because of the low hardware requirement. The program also supports a wide variety of file types, letting you import and export from and to any audio program. Audacity is a great program for fledgling podcasts or musicians trying to create their first demo. Audacity is available for Windows, macOS and Linux.
Where to download: www.audacityteam.org
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Desktop publishing suite, Scribus
Scribus is a cross-platform free alternative to Adobe InDesign. The software is great for people who want to create publishing materials complete with page numbers, colour separation and crop marks. If you have never used a Desktop Publishing Suite before, the learning curve is a little steep but if you are coming from InDesign or QuarkXPress, the software is pretty easy to use and understand. You can create everything from a newspaper to a brochure to a magazine directly from this application. The issue with Scribus is that you cannot save your file or export it to other desktop publishing file formats, which is a little disappointing. The software is available on Windows, macOS and Linux.
Where to download: www.scribus.net
Image editing software, Gimp
Adobe Photoshop is perhaps the most famous image editing software, but that versatility comes at a heavy price which is unaffordable for some. Gimp, short for GNU Image Manipulation Program, offers a similar feature set to Adobe with a very familiar interface. The program over the years has turned into a worthy rival to Photoshop packing a variety of tools. Gimp is also capable of opening most image file formats, saving the edits in any format the user chooses. It is available on Windows, macOS and Linux.
Where to download: www.gimp.org
Illustrator, Inkscape
Adobe’s Creative Suite is very expensive but the tools they provide are invaluable. It is one of the best programs to make illustrations in Adobe Illustrator. However, if you don’t have the budget then Inkscape is a great alternative. The application works on several platforms including Windows, macOS and Linux. Inkscape packs in a lot of pro designing tools and works even on old computers. It is compatible with most other illustration programs and can open and export. The only dowside is that the software looks clunkier.
Where to download: https://inkscape.org/
Office suite, LibreOffice
Microsoft Office has dominated the office suite for decades but they can get expensive especially if you keep upgrading to the latest version. Libre Office offers a viable free alternative. They have Writer, a word processor similar to Word, Calc, which is their version of Excel and Impress for presentations. LibreOffice can open and save the files in many different formats. LibreOffice is available on several platforms including Windows, macOS and Linux.
Where to download: www libreoffice.org
Video editor, DaVinci Resolve
DaVinci Resolve is a video editing software made by BlackMagic, a company that makes powerful but compact video cameras. The software is comparable to Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premier and includes several features. Most other free clones don’t come close to the DaVinci Resolve and this is mostly because the company wanted to build something that their camera users would love. It must be noted that there is a Pro Studio version of DaVinci Resolve as well, but the free version is just as powerful as the Pro and there isn’t much of a difference for most people who use it. The program is available on Windows, macOS and Linux.
Where to download: www.blackmagicdesign.com/in/products/davinciresolve
EBook reader, Calibre
It is unbelievably difficult to find a decent eBook reader on Windows. Calibre is one of the few good eBook readers for Windows, it is also available for Linux and macOS. If you aren’t comfortable installing the software, you can even run it from a USB stick. Calibre can read almost any file format including epub, CBZ, AZW, Mobi and PDF. Calibre also acts as a library for your eBooks, organizing them with ISBNs, tags and even a summary. The app has an inbuilt editor that can be used to add notes to your favourite books. Calibre can also automatically download interesting stories from magazines and newspapers. It has tie-ups with leading content houses to allow you access to the latest news from around the world.
Where to download: https://calibre-ebook.com/download
File compressor, 7-Zip
Zipping tools are needed to save bandwidth while sending files across the Internet. You can use 7-Zip to unpack almost any compressed file format and its 7Z format. The zipped files are encrypted and password protected. The software can also install context Menus in Windows, where you can zip or unzip a file just by right-clicking . While 7-Zip is an excellent program, it does take much longer to compress files.
Where to download: https://www.7-zip.org/
Video player, VLC
VLC or VideoLAN client is a powerful video player that has a lot of hidden features just waiting to be discovered. You can pretty much run any video format on the player; it also plays a variety of audio formats. You can stream videos directly on the player and with a few plugins that can be downloaded from the Internet; you can also stream videos from sites like Vimeo, Youtube and other websites. The player also lets you do some basic video editing, but I wouldn’t recommend anyone attempting to do so. The app is also available on multiple platforms including Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android and several more.
Where to download: https://www.videolan.org/vlc/
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